Mounting means especially for vibrators



Oct. 10, 1961 E. F. PETERSON 3,

MOUNTING MEANS ESPECIALLY FOR VIBRATORS Filed Jan. '7, 1960 IN V EN TOR.E F. PETERSON ATTORNEY United States Paten FOR This invention relates toa mounting means and more particularly to such means especially adaptedfor the mounting of vibrators on structures to be vibrated.

In a typical installation of the general character referred to, astructure such as a container, receptacle, etc., containing fluent orgranular material and the like, may be more easily unloaded, forexample, by the mounting thereon of a vibrator which creates vibratingforces which tend to influence the flow of the material. A well-knownexample ofsuch installation is that appearing in railway hopper cars,which are conventionally supplied with female mounting means for thereceipt of a male member which in turn carries the vibrator. One of thegreat problems encountered in this art is the mounting and dismountingof the male member, which has heretofore been accomplished only at theexpense of relatively arduous labor involving the use of a sledge fordriving the male member into place and for. releasing the male memberafter use. Obviously, the mounting means must 'besuch as to accomplish arelatively tight and rigid mounting, because otherwise the vibratorwould cause the mounting means to deteriorate. At the same time,thisvrequirement conflicts with ease of removal, which is importantbecause vibrators are changed from car to car and cannot be left inplace while the cars are in transit.

According to the present invention, this disadvantage is eliminated bythe provision of an improved mounting means having a relativelysimpl'eie'xpedient for accomplishing tightening of the mounting and atthe same time being useful in releasing the mounting when the vibratorand male member must be removed. The invention .features a novelmounting means including interlocking wedging members plus anauxiliarywedging device which is operative in an extremely simple mannerto improve the wedging action between the male and female members. It isan object of the invention to enable the wedging member to be used inaccomplishing the release of the male member from the female member.Other objects of the invention reside in the provision of a mountingmeans of simple and inexpensive design, the provision of means which maybe readily attached to structures of known types, and such otherimprovements and features inherent in and encompassed by the invention,as will more readily appear from the following disclosure of preferredembodiments of the inyention,-shown, by way of example, in theaccompanying sheet of drawings, the several figures of which aredescribed below.

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary perspective of a typical mounting utilizingthe present invention. 7

FIGURE 2 is an exploded perspective showing the components of themounting means and the associated vibrator.

FIGURE 3 is a perspective showing the manner in which the male member isreleasable from the female member. a g

FIGURE 4 is a plan, on a slightly enlarged scale, of the male member.

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged fragmentary section as seen along the line 5-5of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of FIGURE 5.

FIGURE 7 is an exploded perspective of a modified form of male memberand associated vibrator.

The structure to be. vibrated is illustrated fragmentarilyin FIGURE 1 asthe bottom part of a conventional rail- Patented Oct, 10, 1961 wayhopper car and is designated by the numeral 10. Those versed in the artwill recognize the structure as involving the unloading of the car bymeans of a bottom door (not shown) through which the contents of the carare emptied. As already explained, it is conventional in situations ofthis character to employ the principle of vibration to influence theunloading operation. A typical vibrator is shown at 12 in FIGURE 1, andthis vibrator is mounted on the hopper car 10 by means of a femalemember 14 and a male member 16.

The female member 14 is socketed and is an elongated element ofrelatively heavy metal, such as a casting having a back face whichconstitutes means for rigid afiixation thereof to a wall of thehoppervcar, which may be conventionally accomplished by welding, as at18. The socketed part of the member is of C-shaped section, made up of aback wall 20, a pair of opposite side walls 22 and a pair of front walls24. The front walls are spaced apart to provide an elongated opening orslit 26 which runs lengthwise of the member, and the walls thus afford achannel 28 of T-shaped section. At this point, it should be noted thatsuch expressions as back, front, etc. are used as terms of convenienceand not of limitation, since the structure may be oriented otherwisethan as illustrated.

The front walls 24 are provided respectively with integral abutments orlugs 30 which project outwardly or forwardly respectively at oppositesides of the slit 26. As best shown in FIGURE 6, the front and rearwalls are interiorly tapered so as to converge toward one end of thechannel, in this case the lower end. This, as will be explained,provides a wedging action in conjunction with the male member 16.

The male member is preferably of cruciform shape, in eluding anelongated upright rib 32 and a rigid cross flange 34 which intersectsthe rib, the member in this respect being preferably fabricated of metalwith the rib and flange welded together in the configuration shown. Therib 32, in conjunction with a back portion of the member gives themember in that area a T-shaped section which conforms generally to thatof the channel 28 in the female member. The back portion is hereconstituted by a pair of lateral webs 36, one of which is rigidlysecured, as by welding, to each side of the rib 32 and to the undersurface of the cross flange 34, and each web is of tapered shape, asbest seen in FIGURE 2, to conform to the taper in the socket 28. Thetapered shape is improved by the provision on the back of each web ofanintegral elongated portion 38,

The mounting of the male member in the female member is accomplished byinserting the former downwardly in the latter, the T-shaped section ofthe member 16, as achieved by the rib 32 and webs 36, fitting theT-shaped channel 28 of the member 14. In a conventional situation, themember 16 would be driven home by a sledge and the vibrator, such asthat at 12, subsequently attached. However, this procedure requires thatthe member 16 be released by striking it from the bottom with a sledge.In a typical railway Situation, the bottom of the hopper car 16 is soclose to the rails as to make it extremely difficult to swing a sledgewith suflicient power to dislodge the male' member. Accordingly, theoperator will attempt to strike the male member at other portionsthereof and eventually the male member becomes unfit for use. Aspreviously outlined, the present invention eliminates these difficultiesby improving the means by which the male member is tightened andreleased relative to the female member.

For this purpose, the rib 32 is so constructed that it has therethroughan elongated slot 40 just ahead of the front face of the webs 36 andinclined so as to lie generally parallel with these front faces. Theupper and lower ends of the Slot or slot means may be regarded as a pairof force-receiving parts, respectively. When the male member isinitially inserted in the female memben the lower end of the slot 40serves as a reaction portion which projects beyond orrbelow the level ofthe abutmiwls 39, was Wedge member 42 is inserted beneath one abutment,passed through the slot 40 and engages under the other abutment. The topand bottom of each abutment may be regarded as another pair offorce-receiving parts and the wedge as a force-applying element. Thewedge member may be struck lightly with a sledge and the forces createdact on the abutments and react on the l ower en d of the slot andthereby draw the male member more tightly into the channel 28 of thefemale member. When it is required that the male member be released, thewed ge member is driven in the opposite direction and is removed frombeneath the abutments 30 and replaced above the 'abutments, the slot 40being of sufiicient length that its upper end is a second reactionportion at a level above the upper surfaces of the abutments. Theinsertion of the wedge in this second position enables the wedge to bestruck with a sledge to create forces acting on the abutments andreacting on the upper end of the slot and tending to force the malemember upwardly or out of the female member. The securing position ofthe wedge member 42 is shown in full lines in FIGURE 5 and the releasingposition is shown in broken lines in the same figure. Also, FIGURE 3shows the releasing operation ofthe wedge member, the vibrator 12 havingbeen removed from the male member to more clearly illustrate theoperation.

In the case of the male member just described, mounting of the vibrator12 thereon is accomplished by the provision on the vibrator of a pair ofbifurcated lugs 44, each pair of which contains one or more set screws46. The rib 32 is provided thereon with a pair of apertures 48, spacedlengthwise thereof on the order of the spacing between the set screws46. Installation of the vibrator involves straddling of the rib 3 2 bythe bifurcated lugs 44, followed bytightening of the set screws 46 thepoints of which preferably enter the opening 48 to improvethe connectionbetween the vibrator and the mounting memher In the modified form ofstructure shown in FIQURE 7, the male. member is designatedat 17' andthe vibrator is indicated by the numeral 13. In this case, a mountingplate 43 is rigidly secured, as by welding, to the front edg f. h rib 33a e s flang 5 dth s p t s pr v de w a pl ra y f pen s. 9 q e c ve ts(not shown) passed through cooperating openings 47 in the vibrator 13.The illustration in FIGURE 7 demon; strates the versatility of amounting member constructed along the linesfof those. shown at 16 and17, it being understood that the latter is in other respects similartothe former, having the same cooperative relationship with the femalemember 14. 7

Two further features should be noted. In both. forms of the inventiondisclosed, the wedge 42 and male mem ber 16 17) are tied together by aflexible elementsuch as. a chain 50, the purpose of which is topreventthe wedgefrom flying when struck by the sledge in areleasing direction(to the right as seen in FIGURES 1, Z and 3). This preventsinjury to theoperator and possible damage. to the car and allied equipment, Thesecond feature is. the provision of holes 52 in the cross flange34,.spaced on the order of the holes 48 and useful in mounting thevibrator 12 in a position at right angles to that shown.

The. improved mountings. shown. are notof course limited totheenvironment shownbut couldbe used'elsm Where. as. in providing readilymountable and removable male members for use successively with concreteforms and the like.

Features and advantages other than those enumerated herein, willvreadily occur to thoseversed in the art, as wi l. m ny modifications andalterations in: the preferred;

embodiments disclosed here,.all.of whichmaybeachieved 4 withoutdeparture from the spirit and scope of the invention..

What is claimed is: V V

1. Means for mounting a vibrator on a structure to be vibrated,comprising: a female'member having means thereon for rigid aflixationthereof to such structure and further including an elongated socketelement of C- shaped section made up of a back wall, opposite side wallsand a pair of front walls spaced closely apart to provide a slitlengthwise of said element, said walls defining a channel of T-shapedsection lengthwise of said element and opening at first and secondopposite ends as well as outwardly via said slit, certain of said wallsbeing interiorly shaped to converge toward said second end of thechannel, said element. having thereon a pair of' abutments rigidrespectively on the front walls and projecting outwardly respectively atopposite sides of the slit; an elongated male member of T-shaped sectionin which the bar of the T provides a web receivable by the channel viasaid first end and having tapered edges fitting-the converging walls totighten said male member in said female member, and the leg of'the Tproviding a rib lengthwise of said male member and projecting outwardlythrough the slit and between and beyond the abutments, said rib having aslot lengthwise thereof and provided with opposite ends and one of saidends normally being spaced beyond the abutments; a wedge memberinsertable transversely through the slot and beneath the abutments toengage betweenthe abutments and said end of the slot to create forcestending to draw the male member more tightly intov the female member;and means on the male member outwardly of said rib for carrying avibrator.

2. The invention defined in claim 1, in which: the slot is of suchlength that its other end projects to the other side of the abutmentstowardsaid first end of the channel so that the wedge member isremovable from beneath the abutments for insertionthrough, the slot atsaid other side of the abutments to engage with 'saidother end of theslot for creating forces tending to urge the male member out ofthe-female member.

3. The invention defined in claim 1, in which: the means for carryingthe vibrator includes a flange intersecting the rib and rigid therewithand a mounting plate rigidly secured to said fiange and rib.

4. The invention defined in claim 1, in which: the means for carryingthe vibrator includes portions of the rib spaced apart lengthwisethereof. I r

5. Means for mounting a vibrator on a structure to be vibrated,comprising: a female member having means thereon for rigid atfixationthereof to such structure and further including an elongated. channelopening at first and second opposite ends aswell as outwardly at oneside and having walls interiorly shaped toconverge toward said secondend of the channel, saidmember having rigid thereon an abutmentprojecting outwardly adjacent to said open side of the channel;elongated malemember receivable by the channel; said first end and,having tapered edges fitting the converging wallsv to tighten said malemember in said female member, and said. male member including a portionprojectingoutwardly through the open side of the channel alongside theabutment and having--=a slot lengthwisethereof and provided withopposite ends and one of said ends normally being spaced beyond theabutment; awedge member'insertable-transversely through the slot andbeneath the abutment to engage between the abutment and said end of the;slot to create forces; tending-to. draw the male member more tightlyinto the female member; and means on the'male member for carrying a.vibrator.

6. The invention definediin claim 5, in which: the slot is cf suchlengththat its other end.;projects:. to. the other sideof the; abutment towardsaidifirst endlof the channel so that the wedge member is removable frombeneath the. abutment for insertion through the slot. at. said otherside of theabutment to engagewith said other endoithei.

slot iorereating forces tending to urge the male member out of thefemale member. a

7. Connector means, comprising: a female member'in eluding an elongatedsocket element of C-shaped section made up of a back wall, opposite sidewalls and a pair of front walls spaced closely apart to provide a slitlengthwise of said element, said walls defining a channel of T-shapedsection lengthwise of said element and opening at first and secondopposite ends as well as outwardly via said slit, certain of said wallsbeing interiorly shaped to converge toward said second end of thechannel, said element having thereon -a pair of abutments rigidrespectively on the front walls and projecting outwardly respectively atopposite sides of the slit; an elongated male member of T-shaped sectionin which the bar of the T provides a web receivable by the channel viasaid first end and having tapered edges fitting the converging walls totighten said male member in said female member, and the leg of the Tproviding a rib lengthwise of said male member and projecting outwardlythrough the slit and between and beyond the abutments, said rib having aslot lengthwise thereof and provided with opposite ends and one of saidends normally being spaced beyond the abutments; and a wedge memberinsertable transversely through the slot and beneath the abutments toengage between the abutments and said end of the slot to create forcestending to draw the male member more tightly into the female member.

8. The invention defined in claim 7, in which: the slot is of suchlength that its other end projects to the other side of the abutmentstoward said first end of the channel so that the wedge member isremovable from beneath the abutments for insertion through the slot atsaid other side of the abutments to engage with said other end of theslot for creating forces tending to urge the male member out of thefemale member.

9. Connector means, comprising: a female member including an elongatedchannel opening at first and second opposite ends as well as outwardlyat one side and having walls interiorly shaped to converge toward saidsecond end of the channel, said member having rigid thereon an abutmentprojecting outwardly adjacent to said open side of the channel; anelongated male member receivable by the channel via said first end andhaving tapered edges fitting the converging walls to tighten said malemember in said female member, and said male member including a portionprojecting outwardly through the open side of the channel alongside theabutment and having a slot lengthwise thereof and provided with oppositeends and one of said ends normally being spaced beyond the abutment; anda wedge member insertable transversely through the slot and beneath theabutment to engage between the abutment and said end of the slot tocreate forces tending to draw the male member more tightly into thefemale member.

10. The invention defined in claim 9, in which: the slot is of suchlength that its other end projects to the other side of the abutmenttoward said first end of the channel so that the wedge member isremovable from beneath the abutment for insertion through the slot atsaid other side of the abutment to engage with said other end of theslot for creating forces tending to urge the male member out of thefemale member.

11. Means for mounting a vibrator on a structure to be vibrated,comprising: a female member having means thereon for rigid aflixationthereof to such structure and further including an elongated socketelement of C-shaped section made up of a back wall, opposite side wallsand a pair of front walls spaced closely apart to provide a slitlengthwise of said element, said walls defining a channel of T-shapedsection lengthwise of said element and opening at first and secondopposite ends as well as outwardly via said slit, certain of said wallsbeing interiorly shaped to converge toward said second end of thechannel, said element having thereon a pair of abutments rigidrespectively on the front 'walls and projecting outwardly respectivelyat opposite sides of the slit; an elongated male member of T-shapedsection in which the bar of the T provides a web receivable by thechannel via said first end' and'lhaving tapered edges fitting theconverging walls to tighten said male member in said female member, andthe leg of the T providing a rib lengthwise of said male member andprojecting outwardly through the slit and between and beyond theabutments, said rib having a slot lengthwise thereof and provided withopposite ends and one of said-ends normally being spaced beyond theabutments; and a wedge member in-. sertable transversely through theslot and beneath the abutments to engage b'etween'the abutments and saidend of the slot to create forces tending to draw the male member moretightly into the female member.

12. Means for mounting a vibrator on a structure to be vibrated,comprising: a female member having means thereon for rigid affixationthereof to such structure and further including an elongated socketelement of G-shaped section made up of a back wall, opposite side wallsand a pair of front walls spaced closely apart to provide a slitlengthwise of said element, said walls defining a channel of T-shapedsection lengthwise of said element and opening at first and secondopposite ends as well as outwardly via said slit, certain of said wallsbeing interiorly shaped to converge toward said second end of thechannel, said element having thereon a pair of abutments rigidrespectively on the front walls and projecting outwardly respectively atoposite sides of the slit; an elongated male member of T-shaped sectionin which the bar of the T provides a web receivable by the channel viasaid first end and having tapered edges fitting the converging walls totighten said male member in said female member, and the leg of the Tproviding a rib lengthwise of said male member and projecting outwardlythrough the slit and between and beyond the abutments, said rib having apair of reaction portions spaced apart lengthwise thereof to lierespectively short of and beyond the abutment and spaced therefrom; anda wedge member transversely insertable selectively between the abutmentand the reaction portion beyond the abutment, to create forces tendingto tighten the male member in the female member, or between saidabutment and the other reaction portion to create forces tending to urgethe male member out of the female member.

13. Connector means, comprising: a female member having opposite endsand provided with a socket opening at at least one end and extendingtoward the other end and having interior wall portions; a male memberinsertable into and withdrawa-ble from the socket and having externaledge portions cooperative with the wall portions, certain of saidportions being complementarily shaped to produce a tightening effect asthe male member is forced into the socket; one of said members havingslot means lying lengthwise along the line of insertion and withdrawalof the male member, said slot means having opposite ends spaced apartalong said line; means on the other member including a pair of reactionportions spaced apart along said line at a lesser distance than the endsof the slot means and lying intermediate said ends so that a space isprovided between one reaction portion and the next adjacent end of theslot means and another space is provided between the other reactionportion and the other end of the slot means; and a force-applyingelement insertable into one space to act between the associated reactionportion and slot means end to urge the male member into the socket andsaid element being also selectively insertable into the other space toact in the opposite direction between the other reaction portion and itsassociated slot means end to urge the male member out of the socket.

14. Connector means, comprising: a female member having opposite endsand provided with a socket opening at at least one of said ends andextending toward the 7 other end and having interior wallv portions; amale member insertableinto and withdrawable from said socketa'nd havingexternal edge portions cooperative with said wall portions, certain ofsaid portions being complementarily shaped to produce a tighteningeffect as the male member is forced into the socket; first and secondforce-receiving parts rigid on one. member and spaced her and the fourthpart is spaced beyond the second part 15 2,726,432

in the direction of withdrawal of said male member; and a force-applyingelement insertable between the second and fourth parts to create a forceurging the male memher more tightly into the socket, and saidxelementbeing selectively insertable between the first and third parts to createa force urging the male member out of th socket.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS635,842 Bush Oct. 31, 1899 1,495,189 Mack May 27, 1924 1,552,912 Colt -iSept. 8, 1925 Lemma a Dec. 13, 1955

